“What the fuck…” I managed to squeak out.
Everyone else on the boat started clapping and I turned my head to look at Allen. “What’s going on? Why does everything hurt?”
“Let’s get you into the cabin,” Allen said.
“What happened?” I growled.
“You were—” Bill stared.
“I’ll explain when you’re inside,” Allen cut him off. “Come on.”
All the guys that had surrounded me helped me stand on the rocking boat. Allen wrapped his arm around my waist, avoiding the throbbing shoulder, and helped me walk across the deck to the cabin door and helped me down into the little living area there. I sat down carefully, also avoiding my shoulder.
“Are you okay, Glenda?” Bill asked. I didn’t even realize he had followed us in.
“Get the fuck out of here,” Allen growled, not turning around.
“I have a right to be in here—”
“No, you don’t. Get out. I’ll take care of her. You had your chance and you fucked it up.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Bill, just go. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
Bill walked back up the stairs, clearly not ready to fight Allen on whatever was going on. I looked at him, needing to know what the hell was going on. “So?”
“What do you remember?”
“You screaming for me to watch out,” I answered. “There are some vague bubbling images, but that’s it.”
“Irene jumped off the boat and landed on your shoulder. She dislocated it, and shoved you underwater, hard. You passed out from the pain and started sinking. Doctor Williams had to push it back in the socket, which is why it hurts. The captain is ready to go back if you want to go back, and go to the hospital.”
“Why the hell would she do that?” I asked.
“She apparently didn’t like the way you were treating Bill.”
“What?” I asked, putting my good hand to my forehead.
“He talked you down to her, and she decided she was going to scare you by jumping in close to you. She missed and landed on your shoulders. I dove in to drag you back to the surface. Once we got you back on board, Doctor Williams pushed your shoulder back in and he was able to force you to expel the water.” He took a deep breath. “I thought you were dead.”
There was a knock on the door, and we turned to look. Tanya was standing there, looking contrite and terrible. She folded her hands in front of her and kept her eyes averted. “I’m sorry, Glenda. My sister has always had impulse control issues and this was the stupidest thing she’s ever done.”
“I’ll say,” I snapped. “Let me talk to her.” I stood up, but Allen pressed me back into the seat. “Let me go talk to her!”
“Go get her, Tanya. This woman nearly drowned, she’s not moving off her ass for a while.” Allen looked at me with the directive to stay right where I was.
Tanya nodded and scurried up the stairs. Allen sighed when she was out of the cabin. “What are you going to do?”
“Talk to her.” I turned and looked at him. “Just talk. You’re about to see what kind of bitch I really am.” My shoulder twinged hard, and I winced. “Did the doctor say I could take anything for this pain? Because fucking ouch.”
“Ibuprofen,” Allen said. “I’ll find out if the captain has any.”
He trotted up the stairs and Irene practically fell down them in the next minute. She was crying and hugging herself. I could see Bill hovering behind her up at the top of the stairs, and he was going to get a tongue lashing too. “What the holy fuck were you thinking, little girl?”
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she cried.
“You almost killed me,” I said. “That’s not an exaggeration.”
“I’m sorry!”
“Stop saying that,” I snapped. “You didn’t think one iota beyond your twisted sense of justice. What the hell made you think you were judge and jury on what went on between me and Bill before your ass showed up a day ago?” She sniffled but didn’t answer me. “Bill and I were a couple for eighteen months and you don’t have a day as anything but a fuck-buddy. You are in absolutely no way qualified to judge our relationship. Scaring me for what you think I ‘did’ to Bill was dumb to begin with, but you almost drowned me.”
Bill stumbled down the stairs. “I’m sorry, Glenda. I talked you down something awful to her and Tanya and Steve. I shouldn’t have, and I can’t let her take all the blame.”
“Blame?” I barked. “She almost killed me! Did you tell her to jump in and scare me? Did you know she had such shitty aim she was going to knock me under and knock out my shoulder? What the hell is wrong with you? Eighteen months of a nice, steady, fun relationship, and you get a chip on your shoulder about me walking out of the room I paid for and leaving you on a tropical island because I couldn’t deal with your shit?” I stood up and walked over. “This wasn’t about you, Bill. It was about me. It was about me realizing that I deserved better than you. I deserved someone who was going to not just be next to me, but be with me. And you weren’t. So I opted out. Maybe I should have stayed so we could both have a miserable time? So that I could drag you around and listen to you bitch about everything I wanted to do?”
“No, no.” He held up his hands to stave me off. “I was wrong, wrong. I shouldn’t have talked you down. The way you broke up with me was classy. It was very you, and I was just pissed that you had the balls to do it before I could.”
I froze, and stared at Bill. “Well. That’s that then, isn’t it.”
“I really am—”
“You should just go.” I cut off his apology. “Have a great vacation. I plan to. I’ll see you on the plane in five days.”
He swallowed and looked like he was going to say something else, then clearly decided he’d gotten in enough trouble with his mouth. He took Irene’s arm and pulled her up the stairs, away from me—a smart thing to do because I was planning on ripping into her again.
Allen walked down the stairs with a bottle in hand. “Okay?”
“I need a nap.”
“Not wise,” came Doctor William’s lilting British-African accent from above. “You shouldn’t nap for at least six hours—twelve, if you can manage it. I don’t want you to get into trouble with secondary drowning. So no naps for now.” He dropped his head into the cabin. “Take three of the ibuprofen and I’ll send the resort doctor up with a sling for your arm. You’ll want to rest it often, but you can use it. Do you want to go to hospital?”
“No, I’ll be fine,” I said. “I’ll let someone know if I feel worse.”
“Very good,” he said. “And Captain Macomb, your quick action was well appreciated.”
I chuckled. “Especially by me.”
Allen shrugged.
* * *
After getting back to the room and taking a shower, Allen escorted me to the cabana bar. Apparently, nearly drowning makes you very, very hungry—it was nearly seven p.m. and I was completely wiped out. I had zero interest in staying awake another moment, and I had five more hours to go. Even though I was technically out of the woods, I could tell that Allen would feel better if I didn’t die on his watch.
The sun was riding low in the sky and the Pitons were fired by the dying light. I stood on the deck, staring at them. I didn’t want to think. I just wanted to be at that moment. The light breeze was wonderful. My eyes landed on the pool deck stories below and I saw Irene sitting on a deck chair, fully clothed, her hand wrapped around a bottle of something. Steve and Tanya were nearby chatting quietly and Bill was on the opposite side from Irene. He looked pissed.
They were there for another few minutes and then it just started getting too dark. Three of them stood and headed inside, and Irene trailed behind. I was pissed at her, but at the same time, she made a really stupid decision. She might get over herself in a few days.
Looking out over the water I knew, as much as the thought sent dread through me, I would have to go in the water tomor
row. If I didn’t, I never would again. I was scheduled for a kayaking trip in a cove, but I didn’t know if I could handle that right away. I’d have to see how I felt in the morning.
“What are you thinking about?” Allen’s voice was behind me in the door.
“Life, the Universe and everything,” I answered.
He responded with a laugh in his voice. “The answer you seek is forty-two.”
There was no stopping the laugh. At least this guy got the dumb jokes. I turned to look at him and my breath caught in my chest.
Standing in the door, he looked perfect: khaki pants with deck shoes, and white button-down with the first two buttons open. I could see a hint of a sculpted pecks with a smattering of dark hair. He was leaning against the door, his wavy hair dried in that messy way only guys can pull off and manage to look sexy. And he looked sexy.
I shook my head and turned back to the view. How was I lusting after this guy less than two days after I dropped my boyfriend?
His shoes were a soft patter across the patio deck, stopping just behind me. He trailed his fingers down my arm and his breath was warm on my ear. “Is that a no? We never talked about what happened last night.”
“That’s an ‘I’m so damn confused,’” I answered. Christ, I wanted to lean back into his arms and just feel him against me.
His hand stilled, the light feel of his skin against mine in no way disagreeable. “What’s confusing you?”
“All of this,” I said. “I met you in the lobby yesterday morning, before I even broke up with my boyfriend. You’ve been sweet, you’ve been kind, you even turned me away when I was drunk and a sure thing. I should be mortified that I did that, by the way, and I can’t seem to find it in me to be horrified that you…” I sighed. “I’m just confused. Don’t I need a mourning period or something?”
“Do you?” he asked. “You were over the relationship before the relationship was over.”
“Shouldn’t I feel some kind of regret? Disloyal to what we had?”
“Did he?”
Pursing my lips, I considered that. He had probably slept Irene that first night. He had admitted that he was waiting to get home to break it off. But then, why was I so very into Allen? The guy was gorgeous and had just dropped into my life, and things like that didn’t happen to me. I sighed, and his hand disappeared from my skin.
“I’m not trying to talk you out of Bill. I’m just trying to make you see all the angles.” He was still close, his breath on my neck now. “I’ll abide by whatever decision you make. I’m not trying to talk my way into your panties. But I think you’re unbelievably gorgeous, and in the past two days I’ve liked getting to know you—you’re smart, sassy, sharp, sweet.”
Shit, I wanted him. I really, really wanted him. And the reason I didn’t want to give in was simple. “Every guy I’ve ever been with has been kind, nice. Caring. But they didn’t get that they weren’t the only one in the bed. I felt cared for, but the sex was never about having fun with each other. It was always about getting their rocks off and hoping I could finish with them.” It was a short pause while I considered what I’d confessed. “I’m afraid of that.”
Another quiet moment passed before I felt his hand on my shoulder again. “Any man who gets you in his bed and doesn’t make you quake from his touch is a goddamn fool.”
“I’m just so confused…”
“Did you know there are men in this world who consider a woman’s body an infinite playground?” His words whispered across my ear. “I said it before, whatever your decision is I will abide by it. But I will also be honest with you. I want you. I’ve wanted you since I saw you in the lobby. It took everything I had to walk away from you last night. And I would adore the chance to prove myself to you.”
His voice had become low and seductive and my entire body clenched with the pure lust it invoked. He had tucked away this alpha male sex-fiend all this time, and I did believe he could put it away if I said no to him right now.
Which I had no intention of doing.
“Lin,” I whispered.
“What?” he asked, rubbing a thumb over the juncture of my neck.
“My friends call me Lin,” I repeated.
“Am I a friend?”
“I’d like a hell of a lot more than that.”
His hand left my neck and he snaked his hands around my waist, and I finally felt that sculpted body against my back. God, damn. My insides liquefied; it was as though he were exuding sex, and his breath still danced on my skin. “Tell me no, and I’ll stop.”
“Don’t you dare stop,” I said. “The gates at the playground are open.”
His lips pressed to the tender skin behind my ear, and he kissed his way down my neck, wordlessly, distracting me from what his hands were doing for just long enough to do it. I looked at him over my shoulder when I felt his bare hand on the skin of my upper thigh.
“You’re devious.”
“Am I?” he asked. And he had distracted me again. This time, his hands had slipped inside my panties, and his fingers were moving softly and slowly over my mons and down into the deep folds that were waiting for him. His fingers were as warm as his kisses. “Oh, cheri. You’re wet. So wet. Is this for me?”
“Shit, yes,” I answered, my eyes fluttering as he stroked gently. “Should we go in?”
“No.” The word was firm, and I could hear a smile in his voice. “We’re going to stand here until you come, Lin.”
My breath left my body in a hard rush. “Out here.”
“Yes.” He trailed his lips over my shoulder. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to do this, since any woman has given me unfettered access to their body. It seems that my sexual aggressiveness turns some women off, and like you, I’ve been holding back and been held back. I want this. I want to feel your silk on my fingers, I want to caress that tender clit of yours. I want to have to hold you up while you try not to scream when you come.”
I was losing my mind. Allen was tracing his fingers around my aching bud. If there had been anyone looking, they wouldn’t have seen that my entire sex was exposed and the man behind me had his fingers buried in my pussy.
“Hold onto the ledge, Lin,” he commanded and nudged my feet further apart. I could feel the cool Caribbean breeze across me, and it only multiplied the feeling he was ramping up. “You are so wet, cheri. Do you like the way my fingers feel on your clit?”
“Oh, God, yes,” I breathed. He was circling, then darting over quickly, then circling again. He slipped a finger back into my hot channel while his other finger was still circling. My breathed rushed out, and I leaned back into Allen. “Your fingers…”
He didn’t answer right away, instead choosing to suck and nibble at my neck. His fingers never stopped teasing. He pulled his lips away from my skin to answer my statement. “If you think they’re amazing, wait until you see what I can do with my cock.”
“Shit,” I hissed, leaning forward just a little bit. Allen pressed two fingers into me while he still managed to circle my clit—and it felt amazing. Liquid heat consumed me from the inside, and the light motions he was making stirred my breasts in the minidress. I felt my nipples bead and was struck by a stunning ache rushing through them. I lifted a hand to bring myself some relief and attention, and I was caught off guard by the serious nip at my shoulder.
“No, Lin,” he said. “Hands on the ledge.”
“My breasts.”
“You’re going to come on my fingers and my fingers alone.”
“They need—”
“I know what they need.” Allen pressed on my clitoris hard and a shutter ran through my whole body. “I know. And trust me, when I get to them, you’ll come again.”
“That’s wicked, Captain.”
“I know.”
Sweet shit. This guy was not kidding that he was alpha and aggressive. And apparently I was fine with it, because my whole body was trembling. I lifted a hand from the ledge to press him harder against my clit, but
he pushed it back away. “No. Hang onto the ledge, and I will take care of you.”
“Allen, I want to come,” I breathed, putting both hands back on the ledge.
“And you will. I am taking care of this.” His finger went from slow strokes over my throbbing bundle to a faster-paced flicker and I actually jerked in delight from the change. I tried moving against him, but he held me firm. “Anxious, cheri?”
“Shit, make me come, please, please,” I begged. I was frozen where I was, at the mercy of his finger. Just his fingers. He barely moved against me, and my whole pussy was turned to liquid fire. I could feel the climax starting to really build and I was whimpering; I wanted it. I wanted him to do this to me. I needed it.
“You like the way my hand feels on you,” Allen whispered. “You like my fingers playing with your pussy. You like the way my finger pulls and pushes on your wet, hot clit. You’re thinking about all the different positions you want me to fuck you senseless in. You want my mouth on your tits, tasting you, sucking you…”
His words were a soft counterpoint to the now rough movements over my sex. Allen’s fingers were deep in my channel, reaching for the second spot inside me. I was breathing hard, panting, trying not to move because my body didn’t want me to. My mind didn’t want to back away from this; I needed him to master my body, to make me come. “Allen…” I managed, barely.
The fingers he had in me suddenly moved in even deeper, and his hand slipped to the side while his other hand moved in, letting my skirt fall. The other hand, wicked and wanton, pressed my hot clit, then pinched it.
My legs gave out as the climax crashed through me. I was ready to scream his name, but at the last moment of my orgasmic incoherence, he turned my body just so and caught my lips with his, swallowing his name and plundering my mouth with his tongue. I couldn’t stand, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think. All I could do was feel—and all I felt was him. This was his orgasm, his hand, his mouth all orchestrated to bring me to dizzying, mind-numbing heights.
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